China set to blast two astronauts into space

China is preparing to blast two astronauts into space to dock with an orbiting space lab.

The Shenzhou 11 spacecraft will be launched at 7:30am tomorrow local time (4.30am AEST), Wu Ping, deputy director of China's manned space engineering office, said in a televised news conference.

The Shenzhou mission will take off aboard a Long March-2F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northern China.

The spacecraft will dock with the Tiangong 2 space station within two days and the astronauts will stay there for 30 days to test the complex's ability to support their life. They will also conduct medical and scientific experiments, Wu said.

An earlier Tiangong 1 experimental space station launched in 2011 went out of service in March after extending its mission for two years and docking with three visiting spacecraft. The Tiangong, or "Heavenly Palace'', stations are considered stepping stones to a mission to Mars by the end of the decade.

Mr Wu identified the astronauts flying the mission as 49-year-old Jing Haipeng and 37-year-old Chen Dong. It will be Mr Jing's third flight into space following missions in 2008 and 2012.

"It is any astronaut's dream and pursuit to be able to perform many space missions,'' Mr Jing said at a separate briefing.